Pond's Home For Unusual Children
by Isobel Morgan
Summary: If the Ponds had survived Manhattan, what would they choose to do next? And just what would it take for someone to choose to stop travelling with the Doctor and settle down? Written because I think they deserve a happy ending.
1. Chapter 1

This is unashamedly a Happy Ending for the Ponds, so there's no Big Bad and minimal running around.

They just have to survive Manhattan first...

* * *

**Pond****'s Home for Unusual Children.**

**1.**

"Amy!" Rory called, reading the words carved in stone.

"Come look at this."

"What?" Amy was eager to get away, but she turned back all the same.

Rory frowned.

"There's a gravestone here for someone with the same name as me."

Amy came back over, and her eyes widened in horror at what she saw over her husband's shoulder.

"Rory, don't move!" she shrieked, taking a rapid step forward so she didn't lose sight of it.

"What? What's wrong?"

"Doctor! Come quick!"

"Starting to scare me now..."

Rory knew what had to be behind him to make his wife react like that, so he stayed still. As still as a statue. Oh, bad choice of words...

The Doctor and River came running at Amy's cry, skidding to a halt just behind her as they too caught sight of the Angel behind him, standing with its hand outstretched, fingertips just inches from his shoulder.

"Where the hell did that come from?" River demanded, moving round to his right as the Doctor flanked it on Rory's left, making sure the Angel was covered from all sides.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, taking a quick reading.

"Somehow, it survived the paradox. It's very weak, but still dangerous - don't take your eyes off it!"

"Rory, move forward, very slowly," his daughter instructed, eyes open wide, not even blinking. She reached out and took his hand, guiding him away, and as soon as he was clear, she turned him around so he could see the living statue that had nearly killed him.

"So... what now?"

"Wait here. Keep looking at it," River commanded, then ran back to the TARDIS.

The Doctor kept on taking readings, muttering to himself, circling the Angel until River came back. Their eyes locked on the deadly stone figure, they couldn't see what she was carrying at first, something large and heavy and as tall as herself.

There was a series of peculiar noises as she hefted the large object into place between them, directly in front of the Angel.

"Doctor?"

River sounded very pleased with herself.

"Oh. Um. That's... Well, I don't see why it shouldn't work."

"The image of an Angel is an Angel, right? So it can't move, so long as it's looking at itself."

"What?" Rory asked. "Can I stop looking at it now?"

"Um. Maybe."

The Doctor still sounded unsure, so Rory risked a glance to his right, at the object River had fetched; it was a huge ornate mirror on a stand, reflecting the Angel back on itself.

"Where did you get that from?" The Doctor asked.

River smiled.

"Our bedroom."

"You two have a bedroom?" Amy asked, then shook herself. "Don't answer that. There're some things a mother shouldn't know."

The Doctor continued to scan the Angel, frowning.

"It seems to be working. Back away, everyone. Slowly."

The Pond family did as they were told, still not taking their eyes away from the Angel.

When they reached the TARDIS, and the Angel still hadn't moved, the Doctor let out a sigh of relief.

"It's holding."

"But for how long?" Amy asked. "Doctor, we can't leave it there."

"Why not?" River asked. "It's almost dead anyway. Before long, it'll just be a statue, nothing more."

"Is that true?" Amy took hold of Rory's hand and he realised she was shaking. He squeezed her hand back, feeling the cool metal of her engagement and wedding rings against his palm.

"Well, yes, I suppose so. The paradox nearly destroyed it; that's why it came after you. It needed the energy it would have gotten from, well, from killing Rory. It can't survive without it."

"Good." Amy sounded satisfied. Then she flung her arms around Rory, holding onto him very tight, a sob escaping from her.

"Hey. It's okay. I'm okay. Not dead this time!"

Amy swatted him on the shoulder.

"Not funny."

But she was wiping away tears, a glad smile breaking through. Rory mirrored her expression.

"We definitely have to go to the pub now."

"Just a minute."

The Doctor was frowning, waving his screwdriver like a magic wand.

"Rory, what did you say about a gravestone?"

"Um, there was one for a man with the same name as me. I was looking at it just before Amy saw the Angel."

"Not good. Not good at all."

"What? Doctor, what are you talking about?" Amy asked.

"That wasn't the gravestone of someone with the same name as you, Rory. That was _your _gravestone. The Angel was going to kill you; it had already started changing time around you."

"But we stopped it from happening," Amy argued. "So what's wrong?"

"The gravestone's still there," the Doctor replied, looking very serious. "It's creating another paradox. This could get very nasty-"

Anything else he was about to say was cut off by an explosion of stone and grass in front of them; River, ever the practical one, had taken out her gun and blasted the offending stone to smithereens.

The Doctor and the Ponds stared open-mouthed as bits of stone and graveyard rained down on the frozen Angel, then turned back to the TARDIS door.

River smiled, even more pleased with herself.

"You were saying?"

"You can't just get rid of a paradox by blowing it up!" The Doctor shouted, indignant.

"Whyever not?"

"Because there are rules! Things don't just disappear when you shoot them!"

River indicated the broken stone and small crater surrounding it, the scorchmarks on the trapped Angel.

"That one did."

"Oh, forget it!"

"Yes, let's."

River grabbed hold of her parents, pulling them into the TARDIS.

"Time to go."

Everyone was glad to oblige; Rory had never been so glad to hear the TARDIS doors close behind him.

"So, pub!" The Doctor was instantly at the controls, flipping switches and spinning around, bashing seemingly random parts of the console. River went around behind him, subtly correcting.

"Just a regular pub, this time, yeah?" Amy asked. "Not one on Jupiter, or under the sea or-"

"Alright, alright. Just 'normal' and 'boring' and-"

"And safe," River cut in, looking over at her father with quiet relief that he was still there. Rory wondered if she knew when he was supposed to die, or if she'd chosen never to look that up. If that was the case, then she had probably been as scared as Amy.

He went over and gave her a hug, but carefully, so as not to damage her sparkly gown.

"Bit overdressed for the pub, aren't you?"

River rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Dad."

* * *

Disclaimer: none of this is mine, yadda yadda etc.

I never really intended to write this - came up with the original idea for what follows when trying to guess how the Ponds would be written out.

Although what actually happened wasn't all that bad from their perspective (they got to live out their lives together), I think they deserve a happy ending.

The story title will start to make sense from the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

The city was little more than a smoking ruin, just rubble and dust and the awful stench of death. But everything was quiet now, as Amy, Rory and the Doctor walked along what had been the main street.

"The rescue ships got most people out, right?" Amy asked, her voice wavering.

"Yes, I'm sure they did. We held the Kalidorians off long enough for an evacuation."

"Then why does it feel like we're being watched?"

The three of them looked around, trying to find the source of the peculiar feeling.

"Yeah, you're right," Rory agreed. "There's definitely someone here."

"Or several someones."

The Doctor dashed over to a half-standing building and flung the door open, but it was just a flock of sheltering pigeons that, startled, took flight across the amber sky.

"Doctor."

Rory had spotted movement on the other side of the street; a small face behind a shattered window that vanished as soon as he saw it.

Trying to tread lightly, he went over to the window and peeked inside. It had once been a schoolroom, by the look of it, with tables and benches still inside, although now they were shoved together into a makeshift fort.

"Hello?" he called. " It's okay, we're friendly!"

Silence.

So he climbed over the ruined, crumbling walls and went inside, Amy and the Doctor following.

Broken glass scrunched beneath their feet, dust from the bombardment covering everything. Rory knocked against the wood of the table fort.

"Hello?"

He leaned over the top, and found huddled underneath, a small child, no more than six or seven years old.

"What are you doing here?"

The child stared back at him, huge grey eyes in a grimy face.

"Hiding."

"You don't need to hide anymore. The monsters have gone."

The child kept staring, lower lip wobbling.

"Promise?"

Amy leaned over too, smiling in a reassuring manner.

"Promise. We scared them all away."

"How?"

"Well, it's funny you should ask that," the Doctor joined in. "It turns out this particular type of monster really, really hates jazz!"

"Doctor, that's not helping," Amy scolded. The Doctor pulled a hurt face.

"But it's true! I mean, not actual jazz, not the music, but the binary rhythms I programmed into the Destructor to make it blow up are an almost exact replica of 'Freebird'-"

The Doctor stopped as Rory reached into the table fort and lifted the child out. Shoulder length matted fair hair covered most of its face, and its clothes were filthy.

"Are you hurt?" Rory asked. "You can tell me. I'm a nurse."

The child shook its head, clinging onto him.

"Where are your Mummy and Daddy, sweetheart?"Amy asked, brushing back strands of the child's hair.

It shook its head again.

"Monsters got them."

Rory hugged the child tighter, Amy continuing to stroke its hair.

"Are you sure?"

The child nodded.

"They told me to run and hide, so I did. I came to school because they used to teach us how to hide in the cellar if ever soldiers came. And the monsters never found me, though they blew everything up. And then I came up here and there was no-one."

"Well, we're here now. No more monsters." The Doctor smiled.

"Getting rid of monsters is our speciality."

The child burst into tears, burying its face in Rory's jacket.

"Let's get you somewhere safe," Amy looked around, as if expecting more aliens to appear in the sky and attack again. "Can we go back to the TARDIS?"

"I'm sure we can catch up with the rescue ships," the Doctor replied. "Find someone who can look after this little chap? Or is it chapess?"

"What's your name, sweetheart?" Amy asked. "I'm Amy, this is Rory and this is the Doctor."

"I'm Selbi," the child mumbled. "What's a chap?"

The Doctor had been surreptitiously scanning the child.

"Chapess. Everything seems to be fine. Nothing a good bath won't clear up!"

"Doctor." Amy kept her voice low, letting her facial expression do the talking.

"She's just been orphaned. We can't dump her on a rescue ship full of refugees on her own."

The Doctor opened his mouth to protest, but then he saw the looks of determination settle on the faces of his two best friends, and he felt everything change.

* * *

He took them home, back to Earth, to the house he'd procured for the Ponds, and while they were giving Selbi a much-needed bath, he did some checking, back in the TARDIS.

He waited until they'd made up a bed for the exhausted child and tucked her in, and then the three of them sat in the kitchen, mugs of tea in hand.

"Did you find any of her family?" Amy asked.

"I'm afraid not. There's no-one who seemed to know her on any of the ships. Still, once they make landfall, I'm sure there'll be all kinds of settlements that can take care of her."

There was a short pause.

"Or she could stay here," Rory said, finally. "With us. We could take care of her."

"Can we do that?" Amy asked, sounding nervous but hopeful.

"She's not from Earth, she's not even completely human-"

"But she doesn't have a home," Rory cut in. "We do."

"Doctor?"

The Doctor was trying his best not to look them in the face.

"If you adopt her, then... then..."

His manner was like that of a child trying to find a way around a disappointment.

"Then what?" Amy's tone was soft, but underneath, he could sense the steel in her and he knew their minds had already been made up.

"Then you won't want to travel with me anymore, will you?"

"It's not that. But we talked about this before," Rory replied. "About choosing."

"And you made your choice."

Another pause.

"Yes."

Amy's voice was gentle, but there was no room for argument. She took hold of Rory's hand, and squeezed it. He squeezed back.

The Doctor looked up. He was smiling, but all of a sudden, he no longer looked like a young man, the weight of his many years pressing down on him.

"Look at you two," he said, proudly. "Hey? It's what you deserve, isn't it? A family. You said you wanted more children."

"Well, you married the first one," Amy mumbled and Rory had a sudden coughing fit as the weirdness of their situation hit him all over again.

"You're sure? You're really sure this is what you want?"

"Yes."

The Ponds looked at each other.

"Yes, it really is."

"But like Amy said, she's not technically even human. Is she going to be alright here on Earth? I mean, she won't have any immunity to our diseases..."

"Oh, don't worry about that."

The Doctor got to his feet, setting down his mug to flap his hands in the air, dismissive.

"I gave her a whole load of inoculations when she was in the TARDIS. Standard practise, really. She won't get measles, mumps, flu, rabies or Elandrian Purple Fever."

"Elandrian..? You're making that up," Amy accused, but the Doctor wasn't really listening.

"I can give you any information you might need about her planet - well, her old planet - medical stuff, history, anything you - or she - will want to know."

"What about you, Doctor?" Amy asked, cutting through to the heart of the matter.

"Will you be all right?"

"Of course I'll be all right!"

He flung his arms around their necks, causing tea spillage everywhere, but no-one minded.

"This isn't goodbye, Ponds! This is just-"

He stepped back, looking them up and down proudly,

"Something new. Something good. And I can come and visit! I can be - Uncle Doctor!"

"Uncle? More like brother-in-law," Amy snorted.

Rory flinched.

"Please stop doing that."

"Mind you, we probably shouldn't tell Selbi about this whole set-up," Amy continued. "Not til she's grown up at least."

"It would be a tough one to explain," Rory agreed.

"Well, I'll leave you to it!"

The Doctor was covering up his true feelings with his usual hyperactivity, not stopping for a moment.

"I'm sure you want the place to yourselves, to settle back in and get everything ready."

The Ponds got to their feet.

"You will come and visit, won't you?" Amy suddenly looked very worried.

"I need my Raggedy Man, and so will Selbi."

"Of course."

The Doctor gave her another hug.

"And no getting into trouble in the meantime," she told him, sternly. "If you're gonna go running around the universe with River, don't do everything she says. You two are as bad as each other."

"Me?" The Doctor drew back from the hug, his face was a picture of wounded innocence. "I don't go looking for trouble, you know."

"Yeah, you do."

Rory followed suit, with an affectionate hug. This strange alien man had changed his life entirely, and that of his wife, but right then, he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Just make sure you don't get into any more trouble than you can handle, yeah? And if you do, call us."


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

It was another eighteen months, from Rory and Amy's perspective, until the Doctor dropped by. It had taken a while to adapt, for both them and Selbi, but both Ponds found themselves feeling strangely comfortable in the role of parents; they'd never really had the chance to look after Melody as adults themselves, but this seemed right. Not necessarily easy, of course, not with a traumatised small girl who had lost not only her family but her whole world, but Selbi had immediately grabbed hold off the stability offered by these prospective adoptive parents and not let go. Her nightmares had faded, she'd begun to socialise with children her own age and had taken to the idea of school with positive enthusiasm.

The Ponds had started to wonder if the Doctor would in fact keep his promise to visit, or if he had found something - or someone- to distract him, when a sudden familiar sound reached them from the garden. Selbi was engrossed in drawing, reams of paper covering the living room while Amy and Rory were having a friendly argument about what they should cook for her tea. This familiar discussion was instantly forgotten as the impossible blue box appeared smack in the middle of their lawn.

Glancing over at their daughter, who didn't seem to have noticed the space/time machine's arrival, they opened the back door and hurried out to greet him. He looked no different at all, bursting out the door as if the assembled hordes of hell were chasing him, then skidding to a halt as he saw his friends waiting on the grass.

Amy folded her arms, expression forbidding.

"And what time to you call this?"

The Doctor's face fell, a chastened schoolboy in front of a disapproving teacher.

Rory joined in.

"You don't call, you don't write..."

"But I..."

Neither could keep up the act in the face of an ancient two-hearted alien looking like someone had told him there was no Father Christmas.

"Oh, come here you."

Amy opened her arms, going over to the Doctor and hugging him, ruffling his already messy hair.

"Look at the state of you. This is why you shouldn't travel alone."

"I haven't! Well, sometimes."

"I'll put the kettle on."

Rory turned to go back into the house, and stopped when he saw his daughter standing in the doorway, her face a picture of abject misery.

"Selbi? What's wrong, love?"

But she wasn't looking at him, her eyes fixed on the Doctor.

"Have you come to take me away?"she asked, sounding utterly heartbroken.

The Doctor looked back at her, his expression solemn.

"Do you want me to?"

Selbi shook her head, her eyes bright with tears.

"Then of course not! I don't take people away who don't want to."

The Doctor approached her, putting a finger to both Amy and Rory's lips to shush them, stopping them from pointing out that that really wasn't true.

"Do you like it here? On Earth?"

Selbi nodded, still looking far more serious than a girl her age should.

"What do you like best?"

Selbi gave the question real thought.

"Football."

The Doctor's face lit up.

"I can play football! Let's play right now!"

"We were just about to give Selbi her tea-" Rory started to point out, but the Doctor just steamrolled right over that.

"Excellent! Selbi and I will have a match, and you can get on with all that boring grown-up stuff you two no doubt like so much."

Rory looked over at his wife, who shrugged, and the two of them went to go back inside.

"Ah, actually, before all that..."

The Doctor looked somewhat abashed.

"There is something else we should talk about first."

Something in his tone made the Ponds instantly suspicious.

"And that is...?"

This was Amy at her most mother-in-law-ish.

"I brought you a present!"

The Doctor dashed back over to the TARDIS, opening the door just a crack and peeking inside.

"OK. But you need to be quiet."

"Oh God, it's not a puppy is it?" Amy asked, eyes widening. "Doctor, we-"

He shushed her again, opening the door further and creeping in.

Rory took his daughter's hand.

"Do you remember the inside of the TARDIS?" he asked her.

Selbi nodded, a little scared but not backing away.

"Bigger on the inside," she murmured, and they followed the Doctor inside. 

The TARDIS interior seemed as unchanged as the Doctor himself, but there was one new addition; a bundle of blankets made up into a nest under the console.

"It better not be a Great Dane or anything," Amy was muttering quietly. "Or a big alien dog with three heads or-"

"Amy."

Rory had seen what was snuggled inside the blankets. Selbi let go of his hand and crept closer, peeking in.

Amy took another step closer and gasped, her hand over her mouth.

The Doctor grinned, enormously pleased with himself.

"His name is Leo!"

The little boy looked to be about two years old, dark haired and olive skinned. He was fast asleep, chubby hands gripping onto the blankets as he dreamed.

"Doctor, did you... bring us a baby?" Amy was completely taken aback.

"Yes, I did. Do you like it?"

"You can't just... I mean, where did he come from?"

"Oh, he's from Earth. Just a long time in the future. There was... well, it's a long story but basically I ended up promising to look after him, and it's not like he can grow up in the TARDIS. So I thought of you."

Rory knelt beside Selbi, who had gently placed her palm on the small boy's chest, feeling it rise and fall with his breath.

"His heart's good and strong," she reported. "I like him."

"Me too."

"I didn't say no," Amy pointed out, sitting alongside her husband and daughter. "Of course I'm not saying no! You just took me a bit by surprise."

She reached out and stroked a finger down the baby's smooth cheek. He wriggled in his sleep, made a small whimpering sound, but didn't wake.

"What happened to his family?" Rory asked.

The Doctor's grin faded a little.

"I was too late."

He didn't elaborate, and no-one asked him to.

"So! Here we are. How about that game of football, Selbi?"

He pulled a bright orange ball out of one of the concealed cabinets around the console, and went back out into the garden.

Selbi looked up at her parents.

"You go on," Rory told her. "We'll be out in a bit."

She hopped up and dashed outside, the door swinging closed behind her.

"I wasn't saying no," Amy repeated. "I'd never turn away a child, you know that."

"Of course I do! Are you okay with this, though?"

Amy looked down at the baby again, her eyes bright with happiness.

"Yeah. I really am."


	4. Chapter 4

**4.**

Four years later, the doorbell went.

The house was in chaos; semi-organised chaos, but with two adults, five children, two cats and one over-excited Labrador, there was only so much organising that could be done.

Ignoring what sounded like World War Three going on in one of the bedrooms, Rory went downstairs to answer the door. He had to be extra careful on the stairs, as baby Tia was asleep on him, and he didn't want to wake her. She'd yet to develop much of a sleep pattern, and when she did sleep at night, everyone else in the house had very peculiar dreams. Tia didn't look especially alien; the only unusual thing about her was the central heterochromia that gave her eyes such a unique tone, vivid blue with a ring of gold around the pupil. But she was also most definitely not completely human.

When he opened the door, and saw the Doctor standing there, Rory literally recoiled.

"Oh no, not another baby! Doctor, please, we're running out of room! And with Tia still so little-"

"Relax!"

The Doctor held up his hands, which were empty, turning around so Rory could see there was no hidden child about his person.

"Just a social call. I wanted to see how you were getting on!"

Rory visibly relaxed.

"Oh good. I mean, I know we said we wanted a big family, but if you drop any more off, we're going to have to get a bigger house. Or move into the TARDIS."

"Oh, you don't want to do that! Growing up in the TARDIS would have a very peculiar effect on a child, all that energy floating about."

"Like River, you mean?" Rory raised an eyebrow.

"Ah. Yes, well, when I said peculiar, I didn't mean that in a _bad _way. And she didn't actually grow up in the TARDIS, did she? She just got started-"

Rory covered his baby daughter's ears with a hand.

"Shush. Too much information for little ears."

The Doctor looked down at the sleeping baby, as if he hadn't noticed her before.

"Oh yes, your latest addition! How's she getting on?"

"Fine. Only..."

Before Rory could raise his concerns, they were interrupted by a shout from upstairs.

"Daaaaaaaaad! Myanna called me a poobag!"

Rory's expression didn't so much as flicker. Still covering Tia's ears, he shouted back.

"Are you being a poobag, Callum?"

There was a short pause.

"No?"

"Myanna, don't call your brother a poobag!"

There was another explosion of noise from the bedroom, sounding like a fierce pillow fight and Rory sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Come in, Doctor. I better go and sort them out."

"I got it!" called a voice from the front room.

Selbi, now a tall, long-legged twelve year old with purple streaks in her hair and a phone seemingly permanently attached to her hand, headed up the stairs.

"Hi, Doctor."

"Hello Selbi! Nice to see you again!"

But she was already gone, bounding up the stairs to intervene in the never-ending war between her various siblings.

"She's the peacekeeper, then?" The Doctor asked.

Rory nodded.

"Eldest child syndrome. Or maybe she remembers more about her life before she came to us than she says she does."

He went into the kitchen, picking up the kettle and filling it, one handed so he didn't have to put Tia down.

The Doctor stood awkwardly in the middle of the kitchen, wanting to help but somewhat at sea in this haven of domesticity.

Rory waved away his implied offer of help.

"I got this. I'm used to only having one hand free by now."

The Doctor smiled affectionately, watching Rory expertly juggle mugs, tea, milk, sugar and baby.

"Suits you, you know."

"Hmm? What does?"

"Being a dad."

Rory looked down at his youngest child, stroking her dark hair.

"Yeah. Yeah, it does."

"Does she still have nightmares?"

Rory frowned.

"Who?"

"Selbi. You said she might remember more than she lets on, so does she still have bad dreams?"

"Sometimes. Though that might not all be her..."

Now it was the Doctor's turn to frown.

"What do you mean?"

"Tia's people. Do they have any, I don't know how to put this... quirks?"

"Like what?"

"Like the ability to change people's dreams. Not just Selbi, all of us."

The Doctor thought about it, while Rory poured boiling water into mugs. He reached out a finger and rested it lightly on the sleeping baby's forehead.

"Hmm. Hard to say at this age. It's possible. I could run a few tests, and if it is her, I can set up some kind of inhibitor field to stop it affecting any of you, if you like."

"Nothing that'll hurt her."

"Of course not. Maybe we could all go back to her planet and ask them?"

"Absolutely not! No trips in the TARDIS until they're all at least thirty-five. Maybe not even then."

The Doctor looked hurt.

"I'd be careful! They'd all be completely safe!"

"No, Doctor."

Rory was firm, but not angry.

"Not until they're older."

The Doctor dropped the matter.

"Where's Amy?"

"She's at work. She earns more than I do, so it made sense for me to stay at home with this little one. Plus the hospital have been great about giving me paternity leave."

"Do you need money? I can get you-"

"We're fine," Rory cut him off. "You already gave us a house, remember?"

"Yes, I meant to ask. Your car isn't out the front - did Amy take it to work?"

"It's at my Dad's. Not the most practical thing for five kids, so he keeps it in his garage until Amy and I want to go on a trip together, or on date night."

Rory smiled.

"Did you think we'd traded it in for a minivan, or something?"

"I don't know. You humans are funny about your cars."

"Is that supposed to be a joke?"

The Doctor looked confused.

"I mean, you live in your... vehicle. She means more to you than any other living thing. And don't go saying she doesn't - I was there when she was human, remember?"

The Doctor gulped down half of his tea in one go, ignoring the scalding heat.

"Right then, let's go see the rest of the pack!"

"Pack? My children aren't wolves."

But he was already dashing up the stairs. Rory would have followed, but Tia finally woke up, and he decided it was best to leave them to it.

* * *

After he'd fed and changed Tia, Rory put her into the baby sling and grabbed the dog lead, calling the inexhaustible Labrador in from the garden.

"I'm going to the park!" He shouted up the stairs, where it had all gone suspiciously quiet. "Anyone who wants to come with, you've got two minutes!"

The Doctor poked his head round the corner.

"But we were playing! We're right in the middle of-"

"Two minutes."

Rory's tone was as stern as if he was talking to one of his children. Which, in a sense, it felt like he was.

There was a thundering on the stairs as three sets of feet descended and started looking for shoes. It took Myanna a little longer to get down in the stairlift, but once she'd made it, Rory had the wheelchair ready for her.

The Doctor watched from the top of the stairs as Rory went around them all, passing out jackets, confiscating slingshots and settling Myanna in the chair, clearly in his element.

He looked up at the Doctor.

"You coming?"

The Doctor smiled, and joined them. Selbi took the dog lead and headed off, her brothers racing after her, clutching footballs and frisbees.

Rory carefully manoeuvred the wheelchair out the front door and down the slope over the old steps, following at a more sedate pace.

"You know the neighbours see you coming and going, right?" Rory asked.

"In the TARDIS, I mean. Which is hardly surprising, seeing as how it's a giant blue box that makes a weird noise whenever it appears out of nowhere."

He nodded at the incongruous said box, parked in the street.

"Ah. No, I never really thought about it. Do they say anything to you?"

Rory shrugged.

"Not really. The world knows about aliens now, so it's not as much of a shock. I think some of them have put two and two together, though. About the children."

"Especially me," Myanna piped up. "Some of them ask me about my disability, and though they don't know about the gravity thing, they seem to know I come from another planet."

"Do you miss your old planet?" the Doctor asked her, walking level with her in the chair.

"Sometimes," she said, sounding much older than her ten years. "I miss floating. I can only do that in water here, and it's not the same."

"But she's doing really well in her physiotherapy," Rory spoke up, every inch the proud dad. "Aren't you? Hitting every target, getting stronger every day."

Myanna sighed.

"I guess. Still can't play in the park like the others."

"Not yet. But you will do."

Myanna fixed the Doctor with a very intense stare.

"If I wanted to go back to my old planet, would you take me?"

Rory was suddenly very interested in the whereabouts of his other children, currently waiting at the crossing ahead with visibly dwindling patience. Selbi seemed to be holding Leo by the collar in much the same way she was holding onto the dog, stopping both of them from dashing forward into the road.

"I better catch them up. Doctor, would you..?"

He indicated the wheelchair, hurrying off to where the other three were waiting.

"I could," the Doctor said to her, looking very serious himself. "But it wouldn't be the time you were from. You remember what happened to the planet?"

Myanna nodded.

"I can't change that. It would still be uninhabitable, in your time. So I could take you to an earlier point in time, but it wouldn't be the same. And I don't think your dad would like that much, either."

"I know. I don't really want to go back, not without, you know, my old mum and dad. And I do like it here. But it's so _heavy_. I get so tired, and I can't run around like the others can."

"I know. I did wonder about trying to find you another planet with the same gravity as your old one, maybe find some survivors from your people, but I knew there would be a home for you here, and that my best friends would look after you. And it will get easier, I promise."

"That's what Mum and Dad say. They do the same exercises as me, every night."

The Doctor moved behind the chair, pushing it forward to catch up with the others.

"You know, this is a very boring wheelchair. I could fix that - put a few anti-grav rockets on it, some really cool lasers and a lemonade dispenser-"

"Doctor." Myanna managed to fit a lot of disapproval in one word, the way only a child can when speaking to an adult.

"I'm not five years old. And people stare at me enough as it is, without rockets and lasers."

"Do they? Why do they stare at you?"

"Because of the chair. Because I don't look like Mum and Dad, or my brothers and sisters."

The Doctor frowned; it was true that Myanna, with her dark skin and tightly braided black hair looked nothing like Amy and Rory, or the other children - pale and fair-haired Selbi and Callum, dark haired, olive-skinned Leo, and Korean-looking Tia - but it had never occurred to him that this would matter to anyone.

"I don't mind. Mum and Dad would never let anyone say anything bad." She brightened. "Maybe the laser might be good to shoot anyone who did?"

"Not weapons! Cool lasers; the sort you can draw pictures in clouds with."

"You can't draw pictures in clouds!"

"Of course you can!"

By now they'd caught up with the others.

"What are you two talking about?" Rory asked, slightly nervous as to what the answer would be.

"Clouds," the Doctor replied, only to be talked over by Myanna.

"Lasers!"

"Lasers? Doctor, what have you been saying to my daughter?"

But there was a look of relief on Rory's face; Myanna didn't want to leave.

* * *

They stayed in the park for hours; the Doctor gleefully joining in with the football as Selbi ran rings around them all. Charlie the dog switched between getting in the way of everyone's feet, trying to grab the football, and demanding that Rory threw the frisbee for him, over and over, while he sat on the bench next to Myanna, going over her physio exercises.

Tia watched everything with interest; though she was too young to speak, she burbled away happily in response to what her siblings and 'Uncle Doctor' were doing.

Eventually, the younger children began to tire, and they came and sat down next to Rory, while Selbi tried to teach the Doctor how to do handsprings.

"Doctor!" Rory called. "Time to be getting back. Amy'll be home soon."

Gathering together his family - and the still overexcited dog - Rory tried to shepherd them all out together. Selbi was still crab walking across the grass, so he let Charlie the dog go back and fetch her. The Doctor gave a grumpy Leo a piggyback to cheer him up, and as they reached the blue house with the blue box parked outside, Amy drove up.

"Why do you never tell us you're coming!"she greeted the Doctor, punching him on the arm in a friendly way, ruffling Leo's hair at the same time.

She gave Rory a kiss, planting another on Tia's head.

"How's he been?" she asked, her voice low as the children were ushered into the house.

"Fine," her husband reassured her. "We've been playing football."

"Has he said what he's been up to?"

"Not yet. We can ask later, when the kids are in bed."

"Alright."

She turned back to her children, and her best friend.

"Well, if we've got all you lot to feed," she announced, pulling a pretend annoyed face. "It'll have to be pizza, won't it?"

Everyone cheered.

* * *

Hours later, when all the kids had finally been encouraged, cajoled or forcibly put to bed, the Ponds opened a bottle of wine and sat outside with the Doctor, joined by the two cats, Laurel and Hardy.

"So, what did bring you by to visit this time?" Amy asked, sipping her wine. "If it wasn't to drop off another baby."

"Can't I just drop by to see how my friends are?" he replied, pulling an innocent face. "Everyone seems to be doing great, by the way."

"Most of the time," Rory replied.

The Doctor looked concerned.

"Really?"

"Oh, nothing bad. Just, you know, five kids in one house. It can get... a little messy sometimes. Myanna's still finding adjusting hard, Callum misses his old family, and, well I told you about the Tia thing."

He glanced over at the baby monitor; Tia was sporadically making little babbling sounds, but otherwise, all was quiet.

"Yes. Remind me to turn that into some kind of modified delta wave inhibitor to stop anything getting through to the others. Won't hurt them, but it should stop any influences from her affecting them."

"And when she gets older?" Amy asked. "What if she starts showing other - talents?"

"It's not very common among her people, I don't think. She might grow out of it. Or... I can look it up."

He tried to be reassuring.

"She'll be fine. She won't grow another head or anything."

Amy smiled.

"I said that about Melody, didn't I? That she'd have a timehead or something. Have you seen her much lately?"

"Oh yes. Every now and then she asks me to get her out of trouble, or to get into trouble with her. Never a dull moment."

"And what sort of trouble are you getting our daughter in?" Rory asked, the eyebrow raising again, but not being terribly serious. He knew their first-born too well to ever expect her to change.

"Oh, the usual. Does she drop by much?"

"Oh yes."Amy smiled again. "The kids love Auntie River. She's always telling them stories from worlds they've never heard of, and teaching them swear words in dead languages."

"And offering to take them on adventures," Rory added. "Which they're _never _going to be allowed to do."

"But she's been great," Amy continued. "Callum really wants to be an archaeologist when he grows up."

"Think he might be a bit disappointed when he finds out it doesn't involve going to other planets and stealing stuff," Rory pointed out.

"Selbi wants to be a doctor," Amy announced proudly.

"Really?"

The Doctor's smile lit up his face.

"Yeah. She doesn't know what type yet, keeps changing her mind."

"She did ask to come to the hospital with me when she has to do work experience, though," Rory told them.

"Oh, that reminds me."

Amy picked up her phone, scrolling through it.

"I got a message earlier from that charity. About Myanna's treatments? They said yes."

"That's fantastic!" Rory was hugely pleased. "She'll be thrilled."

"What's this?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, we heard of a clinic that specialises in treating muscle disorders and applied to send Myanna there for some advanced physiotherapy," Amy explained.

"But it's in America and they wanted some crazy amount of money, so we had to get funding. The Temple-Noble Foundation just agreed to foot the bill."

The Doctor leapt to his feet, spluttering.

"The _what _Foundation?!"

"Temple-Noble. It's basically this couple who won a ridiculous amount of money on the lottery and set up a charity. They help people out all over the place."

The Doctor was grinning like an idiot, pacing back and forth, rubbing his hands together.

"I knew it. I _knew _it! Knew she'd be okay. More than okay!"

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Rory asked. "Do you know them?"

"Know them? I should think so! Well, actually, I never really met Shaun, and technically since Donna doesn't remember me... But yes, I know them!"

Rory watched the Doctor pace, making connections in his head.

"Is this someone you used to travel with?"

"Yes. She got sort of turned into a half-Time Lord and I had to erase her memory, so if you meet her, don't say a word!"

The Doctor stopped in front of them, waggling a finger.

"Not a word!"

Both Ponds raised their hands in surrender.

"Promise!"

He returned to pacing, looking up at the sky.

"Oh, well done, Donna. Well done!"

"How many previous travelling companions do you have?" Rory asked, curiosity sparked.

"One of them's called Sarah Jane, right?"

The Doctor stopped again, staring at them open-mouthed.

"How do you-?"

"Well, for a start, she's sort of famous," Amy replied. "My co-editor has all these stories about her. The kind of trouble she gets into... that's got you written all over it. And then one day we got a letter from her."

The Doctor's face was almost glowing with happiness.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She'd somehow heard about the kids, figured out who we were - suppose we have been on the front line a fair bit. It wouldn't be hard to track us down, if you knew what to look for."

"What did she say? Is she all right?"

"She's fine. She wanted to know about the kids, how they were doing if they weren't from Earth, if we needed any help. So we invited her over, and we talked."

"Yeah, and now she's on speed-dial," Rory finished. "In case something weird happens and you don't answer your phone."

"And she asked us to help her out with her kids, Luke and Sky, if they need it. They're... special too. I can see why she was glad to have someone to talk to who knows what it's like. And for the kids too."

The Doctor suddenly lunged forward and threw his arms around them both, still grinning like a loon.

"Whoa! Watch out!"

The Ponds just about managed to set their glasses down.

"This is why we can't have nice things!" Amy mock-complained, unwinding the Doctor's arm from around her neck.

"Five kids, a dog _and _a Doctor is why we can't have nice things," Rory corrected. "And I'm pretty sure the cats break things when we're out too."

The Doctor let them go.

"A happy ending. That was all I ever wanted for you, all of you. A happy ending."

* * *

So, one of the reasons I didn't write this when I first thought of it is, I'm basically ripping off the plot of 'Ballet Shoes', with the Doctor in the role of Great Uncle Matthew. And then, even though I didn't really follow 'The Sarah Jane Adventures', I noticed that she adopts alien orphans too, so I put her in this story. (I don't know if they addressed Elisabeth Sladen's passing in the show, but I'm assuming that in the Whoniverse, Sarah Jane Smith is very much alive and well).

I just really liked the idea of Amy and Rory with a house full of kids; the one adventure the Doctor always says he couldn't ever have.


	5. Chapter 5

**5.**

The phone rang, interrupting a family game of Twister in the living room. Callum was helping Myanna play, while Rory was relegated to spinner, trying to keep an eye on a just-crawling Tia at the same time.

He passed the spinner over to Callum, and went to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello Ponds!" came the exuberant reply. "How are things?"

"Doctor!"

Rory waved at his wife to get her attention, and she extracted herself from the pile of their children to come and listen into the call.

"We're fine, everything's fine. How about you?"

"Great, yes, just great! Well, I have had to do a bit of ... repair work on the TARDIS recently. More than a bit, Quite a lot, actually."

"Did it blow up again?" Amy asked, leaning in so they could both use the same handset, not wanting to use speakerphone while the kids were in earshot.

"Certainly not! Well, bits of it did. So I wanted to test out the accuracy of some settings, thought I'd drop by. When are you?"

"_When_?"

"If you mean, how long's it been since you were here last, then it's only been about six months," Rory replied. "So if this is about another baby, then we may need time to move house first."

"No, no more babies. Not right now. Only..."

There was a hesitation in his voice that was quite unusual for the Doctor.

"Only what?" Amy asked.

"Could I bring a friend?"

"Of course! Who is it?"

"Um, you don't know her, I don't think."

"A new friend?" Amy frowned. "Doctor, are you... travelling with someone else?"

"Well... yes."

There was a long pause, broken only by background TARDIS noise at one end and gently squabbling children at the other.

"Is that okay?"

The Doctor sounded hopeful.

"Of course it's okay," Rory spoke up. "We've been telling you you shouldn't travel alone for years. It's not as if we're going to go off with you again. Not like we used to, anyway."

Another pause.

"Amy?"

The Doctor had never been good at patience.

"Yeah, course. Bring her along. We can see if she's good enough for you."

Rory threw her a mildly disapproving look, but Amy was deliberately not meeting his eyes.

"Of course she's good enough - Amelia Pond, what sort of standards are you creating?"

Amy laughed, but it was a little forced.

"I don't mean, compared to us! I just wanna make sure you're okay. That's she the sort of person you should be travelling with. What have you told her about us?"

"Well, um, I haven't, really. Not yet. Oh, hello!"

There was a serious of muffled noises as the Doctor covered the phone, talking to someone else.

"Doctor? Are you coming round?"

But there was no reply.

Rory sighed.

"I'll put the kettle on."

"I'll tidy up the kids," Amy responded, her manner still a little off.

"Are you okay? Does it bother you, that he's travelling with someone else?"

"Not really. I just - didn't expect him to bring her round for tea."

Amy shrugged, and went back over to their children, where she was immediately leapt on by Leo.

"Raaah!" he shouted, trying to climb up her legs. "I'm a dragon, Mummy! Gonna breathe fire and eat you all up!"

"But I'm an even bigger Mummy dragon!" Amy picked him up, flipping him upside down and making him giggle.

"I'll eat you all up first!"

The doorbell went, and Amy let Leo slither down onto the carpet.

"Visitors incoming!" she shouted. "Assume the positions!"

Immediately, the smaller children flung themselves on the floor, arms and legs spread out, taking up as much room as possible.

"Very good."

Amy reached down and picked up Tia.

"As you were."

Leo left Amy alone and went and jumped on Selbi instead, who followed their mother's lead and wrestled him upside down while Rory answered the door.

* * *

The Doctor was waiting on the doorstep, but he was alone. Rory looked over his shoulder to where the TARDIS was parked on the pavement opposite the house, as another figure walked out of its door. She was young, perhaps mid-twenties and very pretty, with brown hair, and a confused look on her face.

"Doctor?" she asked.

The Doctor turned and waved at her.

"Come on, Clara! Come and say hello!"

He turned back to Rory.

"Hello, Rory. Is this a good time? I hope it is, cos I didn't get the chance to explain anything to her yet."

"Explain about what?"

But by then, Clara had joined them, and Rory was too good-mannered to ignore her while he questioned the Doctor. Also, he'd long since learned that you never really got any answers that way.

"Hello. I'm Rory. I'm a friend of the Doctor's."

"Hello."

She shook his proffered hand, still looking a little bewildered.

"Sorry, he didn't tell me we were making a social call. Last I heard, it was, what was it? The planet with the talking trees and singing fish? Or is it the other way around?"

"Later, Clara. I just thought it was time you lot met."

"Come in," Rory invited. "Everyone else is in the front room."

"Everyone?"

But she followed him anyway.

The children were packing away the Twister set, and making as much noise as they possibly could at the same time, chattering away like a flock of starlings.

"Quiet down!" Amy shouted over the din, as she saw the Doctor come into the house.

The children fell momentarily silent, then they too spied the Doctor. Shrieking excitedly, the two boys came galloping over, flinging their arms around his waist.

"Hello everybody! Hello, hello!"

Then he too fell silent at the sight of Myanna, making her way carefully across the room, using only a stick for support.

"Hello, Doctor."

"Look at you! That's amazing!"

"I've been to America. They had this treatment plan, and I'm going back in a few months. They think I won't need the stick at all in a year or so."

"Well done, Myanna! Isn't your sister brilliant!"

The other kids, and Amy cheered; Rory used this as cover to offer to make Clara a cup of tea, which she gratefully accepted.

"And this is my friend Clara," the Doctor continued, unwrapping children from around himself.

"Hello!" Clara did a little wave, her eyes sweeping across the assorted people in the room.

"Clara, this is Amy. She and Rory used to travel with me. And what are all your names, again?"

"Sound off!" Amy instructed the children, who all announced their names in turn.

"And this is Tia," she finished, shifting the baby onto her hip.

"It's nice to meet you, Clara."

She tried her best to sound welcoming, but she was having a harder time than she'd thought confronting her replacement when said replacement was standing in her front room, wearing a frankly steal-able outfit. Yes, she'd chosen to leave, chosen Rory and the children over travelling, as she'd always known she would, one day. But still...

"Uh, you too. Are we interrupting something?"

"No, we were just playing Twister. And _some _of you have homework, right?"

Selbi and Callum groaned aloud.

"Mu-um! You can't make us do homework when the Doctor's here!" Callum complained.

"Well, you can't ever be like Auntie River if you don't pass any exams," Amy pointed out. "_She's_ got a PhD. And Selbi, you've got SATs next year. Don't think I'm letting you slack off every time the Doctor comes round, young lady."

Clara took all this in, wide-eyed.

She pulled the Doctor aside, talking to him quietly as Rory came back in with a tray of tea things.

"Do you come by here a lot?" Clara asked. "Because I feel like I'm being introduced to your family. Is that what's happening?"

"Um, well, it's sort of complicated. But, in a way, yes."

Clara stared at him.

"Am I being vetted? Is this like taking me home to meet your mum?"

The Doctor glanced at Amy, who was doling out biscuits and squash to the kids.

"It's a bit like that. My planet, my people, they're all gone. So this is probably the closest, yes."

"Why didn't you say?" Clara smiled, relaxing.

Selbi came over.

"I like your shoes," she said to Clara, looking her up and down.

"Doctor, you got a new coat!"

She poked the purple frock coat with a yellow-painted fingernail.

"It matches my hair!"

"Yes, it does. Maybe that's why I chose it. Have you decided what kind of doctor you want to be yet, Selbi?"

"I want to be a surgeon."

"Eurgh, really?" The Doctor pulled a face. "All that messy stuff inside people? Still, if it's people like you doing the cutting, then the human race is in safe hands, eh?"

Selbi grinned, proud, but was immediately distracted by her phone.

"Now, where did I see tea?" the Doctor asked.

Amy, having put down the baby, brought over two cups, handing them to Clara and the Doctor, who took his and wandered off into the midst of the kids.

"Have you been travelling together long?" she asked Clara.

"Little while, yeah. These all yours?"

Clara glance around at the assorted children.

"Yes."

Amy watched her brood clamouring for the Doctor's attention, the way his face lit up.

"They're lovely. I used to wonder what it'd take for someone to stop travelling with the Doctor. Now I know."

Clara's lack of antagonism, and her genuine nature when it came to the children allowed Amy to thaw a little.

"Mind you, five? I look after two, and they're hard enough work. I'm a sort of nanny."

Amy smiled.

"What are their names?"

"Angie and Artie. They're a bit too old to really need a nanny, as such, but... their mum died, and their dad needed help, so... you know. The Doctor's usually pretty good at getting me back to them at the right time."

"Sometimes, he gets it right," Amy agreed.

"I don't know what they'd say if they knew what I was up to in-between."

Clara lowered her voice a little.

"Do yours know about, you know, all of time and space, and all that?"

"Well, they come from all over time and space, so we've had to be pretty honest with them, yeah. Just, edited out some stuff they shouldn't know."

Clara stared at her.

"Really? They're... are your children aliens?"

"Some of them. Some of them are from the future. They're human enough."

"Yeah, no, I mean... that's great."

"We didn't exactly _plan_ to create a home for intergalactic orphans. But once we took Selbi in, it just sort of made sense. And the local daycare centre _love _us; we tick another box on their diversity quota every time we sign up another of our kids."

Clara laughed, and Amy felt all her worries disappear.

"How did you meet the Doctor?" she asked.

"Um, bit of a weird one. I called this helpline number and got the TARDIS. Then my brain got wiped by aliens in the wi-fi and once the Doctor fixed that, we just sort of started travelling together. How about you and Rory?"

"The Doctor crash-landed in my garden. _Completely_ ruined the shed. And twelve years later there was an alien in my house that nearly got the world blown up, and then he took me away travelling the night before my wedding."

Clara blinked. Shook herself a little, then she glanced over at Rory.

"Didn't your husband mind that?"

Amy smiled.

"You can fit a whole lot of stuff into one night when your friend has a time machine. And we did go back for Rory, only he got erased from existence, and the Doctor had to reboot the Universe to get everything back to how it should be."

Clara stared at her, eyes wide.

"I stopped a sun from blowing up with a leaf," she offered, finally and Amy grinned.

"To a live less ordinary."

She raised her teacup in a toast, and Clara clinked her own teacup against Amy's.

"To adventures no-one would ever believe if they hadn't been there," she replied.

"Unless they'd met the Doctor," Amy added.

"Amen."

"And what are you two talking about?" The Doctor popped back up next to them.

"You!" Clara and Amy chorused together, and giggled, clinking their teacups together again.

The Doctor's face fell.

"Really? Good things, I hope?"

"Mostly," Amy smirked.

"Did you really reboot the Universe?" Clara asked.

"What have you been telling her, Pond? 'Reboot the Universe'. You make it sound like I just turned a switch off and on again."

"Well, don't blame me. I can only remember bits of it cos you rewrote everything so it never actually happened. How am I supposed to keep up?"

Rory joined them, holding Tia, who was staring at Clara.

"I think she wants to say hello," he said, waving her tiny hand. "She keeps pointing at you and saying something, but she's not even a year old so, you know, words aren't quite there yet."

"You're forgetting I speak baby," the Doctor cut in. "Let me see..."

He put his face right up close to Tia's, looking into her oddly coloured eyes. The baby babbled, reaching out for his bowtie but Rory intercepted, grabbing hold of her hand and gently tugging it away.

"Ah."

"What is it? What's she saying?" Amy asked.

"I-"

The Doctor glanced at Clara, who was looking utterly bewildered.

"Um. You know how I said abilities like the ones you were worried about were rare among her people, and there was no cause for concern?" he asked the Ponds.

"Yes..?"

"I may have been a tiny bit off in that estimation."

"What do you mean?" Amy felt a sudden rush of panic. "Doctor, is there something wrong with Tia?"

"Not as such. But you were right. There are... quirks among her kind, and it seems she may have one of them."

"I'm not following any of this," Clara spoke up. "Should I go away? Am I upsetting the baby?"

"Not upsetting her, no," the Doctor replied. "She says she can see more than one of you. She called you 'impossible'."

The expression on his face was unfathomable.

"The baby did." Clara frowned.

"I think I'm missing something here."

"Still, nothing to worry about!" the Doctor said, trying his best to sound hearty and unconcerned. He shook Tia's little hand and backed away.

"Have you still got that baby monitor? I think I may need to make some adjustments."

"Are you're saying Tia's psychic?" Amy asked. "Doctor, is she gonna be okay?"

"She'll be fine! Just, maybe, I wouldn't play against her at Battleships or anything like that."

Amy and Rory exchanged a look, then both shrugged.

"Okay..."

"I still don't understand," Clara said. "What does she mean? And how could a baby see more than one of me? Whatever that means."

"No idea," the Doctor replied hurriedly, turning away so she wouldn't see the worried expression cross his face.

"I only speak baby; doesn't mean I always understand them."

"I'm sure the feeling's mutual," Clara replied, trying not to show how shaken she was.

Amy laughed, though she was doing the same as Clara.

"You are definitely the sort of person who should be travelling with the Doctor. Don't let him pull any nonsense on you."

"Trying not to."

Rory, still holding Tia, pulled the Doctor to one side, frowning.

"Doctor - how did you meet Clara?"

"Bit of a long story..."

"I've never seen her before, but I know her voice."

There was a slight note of accusation in his voice.

"She was in the Dalek Asylum, wasn't she? Soufflé Girl. But she died. Did you go back in time and save her, or something?"

The Doctor met Rory's eyes, and knew he couldn't keep on lying to everyone.

"No. No, I didn't. She's not the same girl, but somehow she is. I don't understand it and that worries me."

"Does she know?"

The Doctor shook his head, trying to not look guilty and failing.

"Doctor, you have to tell her. Is that the reason why you're travelling together?"

"How can I tell her? I don't even know _what _to tell her."

"So what are you going to do?"

The Doctor looked at Tia, thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure. Maybe I should consult another psychic."

"One who's old enough to talk, perhaps?" Rory wasn't especially comfortable with the idea that his youngest child was 'gifted', but then again, it didn't come as any great surprise. He and Amy would cope. Somehow.

"Perhaps."

Pushing aside his misgivings about his latest friend, the Doctor looked back over to where she and Amy were chatting; it looked like they were exchanging numbers.

"They seem to be getting on well," he commented.

"Yeah." Rory sounded relieved. "I honestly didn't know if they would. I mean, she loves the kids, and she seems happy most of the time. But she does miss it."

"What about you, Mr Pond? Are you happy?"

"Oh yes. Every day."

Rory gently kissed the top of his baby daughter's head.

"Doesn't mean I don't sometimes miss travelling. Seeing other worlds, or the distant future or finding out how wrong all history books are. And there are days when the kids drive me absolutely _crazy_. But-"

He looked over at his wife.

"Knowing that she's safe. That's she's coming home to me and our family every night. That's worth anything."

There wasn't anything the Doctor could say to that.

"And you, Doctor? Are you happy?"

The Doctor put on his brightest smile.

"You know me. All of space and time! So much to see-"

"A whole Universe of trouble," Rory finished for him. "People to save..."

They both looked back over at Clara.

"Do you think she needs saving?"

"I don't know," was the Doctor's honest reply.

"Maybe she'll be the one to do the saving." Rory was thinking out loud.

"Wouldn't be the first time, I suppose," the Doctor agreed.

"Then you do need to tell her. Tell her _something_."

The Doctor flapped his hands, clearly wanting to escape the conversation and go gallivanting off in his usual manner, but Rory's quiet persistence was one of the few things he'd never been able to outrun. Few could.

"You're right. Of course you're right. I..."

He clenched his hands into fists.

"I'll think of something. In the meantime-"

Then he flung his hands in the air again.

"Balloon animals! Who wants balloon animals?"

The children cheered; the adults stared.

"Um, we don't have any balloons," Amy pointed out.

"No balloons? And you call this a party?"

"Who said anything about a party? This is why when you call to say you're coming round, we need more than ten seconds notice!"

"Actually, there might be some left over from Leo's birthday," Rory added.

"Though the only animals you could make from those are... what animals are oval shaped?"

"Penguins?" Clara hazarded.

"I think the balloons are orange."

"I'm sure some planets somewhere has orange penguins." Clara shrugged. "I haven't been looking."

And so they all spent the next hour creating orange balloon penguins.

* * *

When all the balloons had been transformed, Clara started to suggest to the Doctor that they should leave. She'd found herself feeling far more comfortable than she would have expected, had she known where she was going before the Doctor had brought them there, but still she felt a little like they were intruding.

When he finally got the hint, and they were heading out the door, Amy gave her a hug.

"Come by anytime," she said, surprising herself by meaning it.

"And remember; don't let him pull any nonsense on you. Like my nanna used to say; he's not too old for a slap, you know."

"I'll try. One more thing..."

Clara was awkward.

"You know I said I look after two kids? Well, while I'm with the Doctor, sometimes I can't answer the phone. Could I... give them your number? In case of, you know, weird stuff? It'd be good knowing there was someone they could call."

"Course! Weird stuff isn't limited to the Doctor, unfortunately. And you're not the only one to ask me that."

"Really?"

"He's over a thousand years old," Amy pointed out. "And Rory and I weren't the first people he travelled with."

Clara's eyes widened.

"No, I suppose you weren't."

"Don't worry. It's like, a kind of secret club that only the best people get to be part of. And because of that, when you meet someone else who's also part of it, you start to recognise them. And that's... nice."

Clara was quiet for a moment.

"Thank you."

And she went back to her best friend, at least some of her misgivings quieted.

The assorted Ponds stood in the doorway and waved them off, Amy and Rory having long since stopped caring about what the neighbours thought. Their home, like their lives and their children, were far too extraordinary to worry about a thing like that.

* * *

From the Doctor and Clara's perspective, this is just after 'Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS', and before 'Hide', where the Doctor takes his own advice and finds another psychic. However, this is technically in Clara's future, as the Doctor is skipping ahead in Amy and Rory's timeline (now five and a half years at least after Manhattan, putting them in their mid to late thirties, I suppose), so maybe giving Angie and Artie the Ponds' number wouldn't quite line up, but I'm sure they'd cope!

I will probably write more about the Ponds' future, and that of their children at some point, but this is as far ahead as I planned...


	6. Chapter 6

**6.**

Over the years, the house stayed full, almost too full, despite the extension that created enough bedrooms to prevent all out war between the siblings. Even after they started to leave home, they always came back, particularly for special occasions.

So when it came to Selbi's 21st, the house was full once more and despite most of the children now being in their teens, it turned out they were more than happy to ignore that for the sake of indulging in Pond family birthday traditions such as fish fingers and custard, Twister and orange penguin balloons.

By five to midnight, the only people still up were Amy, Rory and Selbi, sitting out in the garden with the remains of a bottle of wine.

"So... While there's still five minutes left of your birthday, is there anything else you wanted to do?" Rory asked, pushing Laurel the cat off the table for the fifth time, stopping her from sticking her nose into his wineglass. The other cat, Hardy, was curled up in Amy's lap, purring contentedly.

Selbi stretched, yawning.

"No, I'm good. I've got lectures tomorrow anyway."

"Did you have a good day?" Amy asked her daughter.

"I did, thanks."

Selbi twisted her arm, letting the shiny new watch on her wrist, her birthday present, catch the light and sparkle.

"It was good to see everyone together. Who knows when we'll all being in the same place at the same time again?"

"Oh, don't say that!" Amy cried. "You know there's always a way."

There was a slightly mischievous smile on her mother's face and Selbi started to feel suspicious.

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

"No, no. Just... your birthday's not over yet, is it?"

Selbi checked her new watch.

"What's going to happen in four and a half minutes?"

There was a breeze picking up in the garden, but seemingly only in the garden, and then a familiar sound brought Selbi to realisation, leaping to her feet.

"You said he wouldn't be coming!"

Both her parents were grinning, although they didn't get up. Even the cats didn't stir as the TARDIS materialised and the Doctor popped his head out the door.

"As if I'd miss your twenty-first!" he called over to her.

Selbi ran over and hugged him, then noticed that her parents were still seated. She looked back at them, puzzled, then at the Doctor again.

"Remember what we said," Rory told the Doctor. "Just the one trip, and no grand universe-saving."

Selbi's eyes went wide.

"Really? I can go in the TARDIS?"

The Doctor grinned.

"Happy birthday, Selbi."

"You said not until I was at least forty-five!" Selbi was still staring at her mum and dad.

"Well, that was before you spent a whole year travelling all over Africa on your own," Rory replied.

"If you can do that, you can handle the Doctor."

The Doctor threw Rory a slightly hurt look, but Rory was grinning too.

"Mind you have her back by midnight!" Amy instructed him, sipping her wine.

Selbi checked her new watch again.

"Three minutes?"

"Time machine," her mother reminded her. "He's better at it than he was when I was your age."

The Doctor's expression changed as he looked at Amy, as if he hadn't noticed before that she was now old enough to have a twenty-one year old child (in a linear sense, as opposed to how things worked with River). In his head, Amy was always the little girl whose garden he'd crash-landed in, not the forty-something woman sitting before him. It was strange, but then he lived his life in active pursuit of the strange.

"As you say," he replied to Amy, throwing her a mock salute. "Can't have her turning in to a pumpkin!"

"She's got school in the morning!" Amy called, as Selbi eagerly pushed open the TARDIS doors.

"School?" the Doctor asked Selbi, following her inside, the doors swinging shut behind them.

"Oh yeah, I'm at uni. Medical school, you know?"

Selbi's eyes were shining in excitement as she bounded up to the console, touching everything she passed, like a small child in a toyshop.

"I'd forgotten how beautiful she is!"

The Doctor smiled affectionately.

"The TARDIS? Well, yes I think she is."

He patted one of the panels, before engaging the controls for dematerialisation.

"Where do you want to go, then? And when? Anywhere you like."

Selbi stopped, her expression falling, suddenly awkward and nervous. For the second time in as many minutes, the Doctor was struck at how much she had changed and grown since he'd first met her. She wasn't a child anymore.

"Ah. I think I know the answer."

He started to set the controls, but Selbi stopped him.

"Please don't tell Mum and Dad. I don't want them thinking that..."

Her voice trailed off as she tried to find the words.

"I mean, Earth is my home. They are my parents. But-"

"But you want to see your old planet again."

Selbi nodded, very serious.

"Could you take me back to before I was born? I want to see my birth parents, but I don't want to meet myself. That'd just be weird. And apparently you can destroy all of time and space doing that?"

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it. As far as I can tell, the Reapers have all died out. Haven't seen one for years, not even when your Mum met her younger self, more than once."

It said a lot about Selbi's upbringing that she not only understood that sentence, but wasn't fazed by it.

"There's a park we used to go to all the time; I know my old parents used to go there before they got married. If we go on Freedom Day, there'll be a fair and everything."

The Doctor smiled at her, ruffling her hair as if she was still the seven-year-old he had rescued.

"I think we can manage that."

* * *

"So why is it called Freedom Day?" the Doctor asked her, as they walked through the crowded park, eating the nearest equivalent to ice cream they could find.

Selbi frowned.

"I don't remember. I was only seven..."

"Let's ask someone!"

The Doctor looked around,seizing on a passing couple.

"Hello there! My young friend and I have just arrived here, and we were wondering what all this was for?"

He waved a hand at the surrounding celebrations; fairground rides and circus performers, stalls everywhere selling colourful wares, delicious smelling food, and music filling the air.

The two people he had accosted smiled back at him.

"It's Freedom Day," the woman explained. "We're celebrating the anniversary of our nation's creation, of our people liberating themselves from what came before, and also the rights of everyone to be themselves, and to be happy."

She put her hand out, palm flat against the Doctor's chest.

"May your heart be forever strong," she said, as if reciting a blessing. Then she frowned.

The Doctor, realising she could feel the double beat of his two hearts at the same time as he recognised her words, turned back to Selbi.

"You said something like that about your brother, when I first brought him to you, do you remember?"

Selbi's brow furrowed as she tried to recall.

"Leo? I think so... I must have remembered this."

"It's traditional," the local man said, smiling at her. "A greeting between friends, or a welcome for a stranger. You've been here before?"

Selbi's expression changed as memories surged within her; she wanted to be happy, to remember happy things, but...

"I was born here,"she told him.

"Then welcome home," he replied.

"T-thank you."

She turned away abruptly, pushing into the crowd. The Doctor thanked the couple, and hurried after her.

"Everything okay?"

"I don't know."

Selbi looked around.

"Maybe this was a mistake."

"I can take you home anytime you want," he told her.

"Home?" Selbi wouldn't meet his eyes.

"It's strange, isn't it? To be confronted with somewhere you lost, something you aren't even sure you remember. It makes you wonder if you belong anywhere."

"I've been to therapy, you know. We all did, so this isn't the first time I've ever thought about where I belong."

"Therapy? Really?" The Doctor was surprised.

"Mum and Dad wanted us to have someone else to talk to about, you know, the adoption. Being aliens, and whatever happened before. They found a psychiatrist through U.N.I.T."

"And... did it help?"

"Up until now, yeah."

Selbi finally looked up.

"I -"

Then all the colour drained from her face and the ice-cream in her hand fell to the floor.

"Doctor?"

As he turned to look at what had shocked her, she slumped to the ground in a dead faint, the crowd swirling around her.

"Selbi?"

He knelt down, checking her pulse and patting her face.

"What's wrong with her?" a woman's voice asked.

"It's okay, I'm, um, her Doctor," he replied, pulling off his coat and putting it under her unconscious head. The voice sounded familiar, and as he looked up, he found himself looking into Selbi's grey eyes.

The woman was perhaps in her late twenties, fair-haired and pretty, and he might not have seen the similarity if she had just passed him by, but close-up... Well, now he knew why Selbi fainted.

"Do you need help?" the man with her asked, but Selbi was starting to come round, and the Doctor thought it best to remove her from the possibility of further shocks for the time being.

"Um, no, she'll be fine, I'm sure."

He picked her up, carrying her over to a nearby bench and laying her down, just as she re-opened her eyes.

"Hello," he greeted her. "How are you feeling?"

"Doctor?" Selbi sounded confused. "What?"

And then she remembered.

"Oh."

She sat up, carefully, the Doctor surreptitiously scanning her with the sonic.

"Where are they?"

"Close by, if you want to catch up," he told her, watching her closely. "They offered to help."

An extraordinary number of expressions crossed her face, too fast for him to catch them all.

"Maybe later. I... I don't know if I'm ready yet."

"Take your time."

She swung her legs down, sitting with her elbows resting on her knees, her hands over her face.

"Does it ever get easier?" she asked him. "I mean, you must see people you know to be dead all the time."

"Not all the time," he replied, trying to keep his tone light. "But yes, I do. Your Auntie River, for one."

Selbi turned her head to look at him, wide-eyed and speechless.

"Ah, perhaps you should forget I said that. I mean, she knows. Sort of. And no, I'm afraid it doesn't always get easier. Do you want to leave?"

"Not yet. And I know she's my sister, not my auntie. You don't have to say that anymore. Are you two really married?"

"Sometimes."

Selbi accepted this.

"Can we walk a bit more?"

"If you're feeling all right. I promised to look after you."

"I'm not a kid anymore. I mean, Mum and Dad were about my age when they first started travelling with you, weren't they?"

"Would that argument work on them?"

"It did when I went to Africa."

Selbi clearly wanted to say more, but he saw her turn pale again and followed her gaze.

Her mother - her birth mother, the one Selbi had seen killed in front of her when she was only seven years old - had returned and was offering her a plastic cup filled with bright pink liquid.

"I brought you this," she said. "Hope you're feeling better?"

Selbi stared back, wide-eyed.

Then she reached out and took the cup.

"Thank you. Pink lemonade?"

The young woman smiled.

"It's my favourite. Thought you might like it too."

Selbi smiled back, hesitantly.

"It's my favourite too. My... my mum and dad used to buy it for me as a treat when I was little."

The young man came up and put his arms around the woman, also smiling.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"B-better. Thank you."

The Doctor saw Selbi's hands shake around the cup she was clutching and laid a friendly hand on her shoulder, but she barely noticed he was there.

"My wife, she's started worrying about everyone now," the man continued. "Since we found out about the baby."

His hand slid down to cover her belly, and Selbi's eyes were drawn to the spot where the embryonic version of herself was growing. For a moment, she didn't move, then she handed the cup to the Doctor and slowly got up, her hand held out in front of her, palm facing out.

"May your heart be forever strong," she told her parents, and her unborn self.

Their happy smiles grew wider, and they returned the blessing.

As they walked away, Selbi turned back to the Doctor, who was waiting with a serious expression.

"I think I'm ready to go," she told him, her eyes bright with tears and he nodded.

"Perhaps... things might be easier if I offer you a different perspective."

* * *

The two of them sat in the open doors of the TARDIS, looking down on the planet orbiting beneath them, sharing the pink lemonade.

"It's more... orange than I remember," Selbi remarked thoughtfully.

"Different gas particles in the atmosphere," the Doctor replied, slurping pink lemonade and swinging his booted feet.

"And longer wavelengths of light."

"I-" Selbi shook her head. "I'm better at understanding what goes on inside people than I am that kind of science."

The Doctor smiled, avuncular.

"You take after your Dad, that's why."

"You mean Rory Williams." Selbi's voice changed, her tone growing darker. "The man who raised me, not the man we met today, the one who's going to die in seven years time, when aliens come out of this sky and burn everything."

Inwardly, the Doctor sighed. He'd known this was coming.

"No, Selbi," he said, firmly. "We can't save them, and we can't change things we've already seen happen."

"Why not?" Selbi wouldn't look at him, but she was properly angry now, her hands gripping the TARDIS doorframe beneath her.

"Because of what would happen after," the Doctor replied, knowing full well she couldn't care less about the 'rules' of time travel right then. "There would be consequences, and I honestly don't know what they'd be."

"But they'd be alive!" Selbi's voice was raising. "They'd all be alive!"

She gestured down at the planet.

"How many made it away in the rescue ships? Thousands? A hundred thousand? Out of all of my people, how many?"

"I don't know."

The Doctor was trying his best to stay calm, but it seemed this was an argument he was doomed to have over and over again, with everyone he ever travelled with. And it never got any easier.

"All they need is a warning! If they knew the Kalidorians were coming, that there was going to be an attack-"

"Selbi."

For a moment, the Doctor sounded every year of his age, and it made her hesitate.

"Think about it. If we did, if we could change things, what would happen to you?"

"I... don't know. I'd stay here, I suppose. Is that would you mean? That I'd never meet you, and that'd be a paradox?"

"That's part of it. But more than that. If Amy and Rory didn't adopt you, then they might have stayed travelling with me. And your siblings would never have been adopted either. Think about that; the ripple effect."

"Don't."

Selbi got up, turning her back on the Doctor, her fists clenching in anger.

"Don't put that on me. That's not _fair_."

"No, it's not fair. A lot of things aren't fair, and they aren't right. I do my best to fix that, but there are things I can't fix and I can't change."

"And how do you choose them? You saved me, rescued my brothers and sisters, but you can't fix this?"

"That's not the same."

The Doctor felt a pain in his chest, as if his hearts were beating at the wrong rhythm. How many times had he had this argument with himself? How many times had he had to accept that people he loved were dead and gone, and he couldn't save them?

"It isn't about choice, or what I want. I've had to make decisions in situations where there is no right answer, no happy outcome. When I first came here, we did all we could to save your people, but it wasn't enough."

Selbi didn't turn back around, but some of the tension went out of her posture, her hands unclenching.

"And that's how I live my life, Selbi. I try, but it isn't enough. It never is. I rescued you, and your brothers and sisters, but there are so many I couldn't save."

He looked down at the planet. From up here, everything looked peaceful.

"That's part of what keeps me going. There will always be monsters to fight, and people to save."

He got up and went over to her, putting a hand gently on her shoulder.

"The ones I can save... they're the ones who make it worthwhile."

Selbi's head dropped down and she breathed out heavily, a long, slow breath.

Then she turned around and they hugged.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't going to do this, I promised myself I wouldn't."

"That's okay." He ruffled her hair. "I'd have been surprised if you didn't. This was never going to be easy."

She looked back down at the planet beneath them.

"I remember all of it, you know."

"The attack?"

Selbi nodded.

"I told Mum and Dad I only remembered bits of it, and when I went for counselling... I mean, a UNIT therapist should be used to hearing that sort of thing, right? But I couldn't tell them about it either. It wasn't until last year, when I was working my way around Africa..."

Her voice trailed off.

"Is there a planet anywhere that's never had a war? Or an invasion? An inhabited one, I mean."

"I don't know," the Doctor replied, seriously. "I hope so."

"It's a beautiful continent," she continued. "I met some wonderful people, and there were some places I could have stayed forever. Spent years exploring. But others..."

He waited for her, wondering where this was going, if he could give her the answers she was looking for.

She looked up at him.

"They used children as soldiers. The things they'd seen and done... it made my history look like nothing. And even before the Kalidorians came... my home wasn't perfect. That's why Freedom Day is so important - it brings us together and tries to stop all the factions turning violent."

She frowned, her brow creasing in concentration.

"Only I don't really remember what they wanted, why they were fighting. They taught us what to do if soldiers came, but not why."

"Then don't think about it," the Doctor offered. "Remember the good things about your home. Fairs in the park and pink lemonade."

"Is that what you do?"

Her grey eyes were so much older than her years, but then the Doctor had never been able to hide that about himself, despite his current face.

"I try."

They looked down at the planet in silence for a moment.

"Have you ever been to therapy?" Selbi asked, curious. "I mean, not to be rude, but... most people would, if they lived a life like yours. Not that there is such a thing as a life like yours, I suppose."

"I've got the TARDIS. I don't need anything else. Though it's good to see friends."

He thought about what she'd said earlier.

"Are UNIT okay with you all knowing so much about them? I thought they'd have, I dunno, tried to erase your memories or something."

"Oh they did," Selbi replied, matter-of-factly. "They took all of us into the Black Archive at the Tower when we were little, what with us being aliens and knowing you and everything."

The Doctor was puzzled.

"Then how-?"

"Tia."

"Oh."

"So, yeah, we all forgot at first. But not since she came along. I don't know if they know and just stopped caring. I mean, we've never given them a cause for concern. Though I suppose they'll always keep an eye on us, as aliens and people out-of-time."

"This therapist of yours. Any good?"

Selbi shrugged.

"He's dealt with aliens before. I think he usually helps soldiers who fought off invaders and stuff like that."

She gave the Doctor a pointed look.

"There's a reason why we can't talk to you about it."

He didn't follow.

"Because I'm an alien too?"

"No, I mean-"

Selbi sighed, sitting back down in the open doorway.

"It's not just you. It's River too, and Mum, kind of. You don't-"

She hesitated.

"You don't like to look back. And you never stay to see the damage left behind."

She deliberately didn't turn around, not wanting to see the look of hurt she knew would be on his face.

"You run toward danger, do your best to fight and then you move on. You have to, don't you?"

The Doctor was pacing behind her. He knew she wasn't saying it to be cruel, but nonetheless, words from his friends could hurt more than anything his enemies threw at him. What could he say to that?

"I said you take after your dad, didn't I?"

He sat down next to her. She was hugging her knees and gazing out into space.

"Not just the medical thing, but you didn't mention him just then. About the running-towards-danger thing."

"I know he did, when he travelled with you," she replied. "They talk a lot more about that time now, and River's never held back. But, no, Dad's not like you."

The Doctor remembered that time on Apalapucia, when he was faced with a furious Rory, accusing him of 'turning me into you'. Rory had always found it hard to make any kind of decision where people could get hurt as a consequence; it went against everything he was. Especially when it came to Amy.

He'd changed a lot since they'd first met, and the Doctor wasn't always sure if it was for the better. At heart, despite spending two thousand years as a Centurion, Rory was a nurse, rather than a soldier, but he'd been forced into situations where he couldn't be one without the other, and the Doctor knew that Selbi knew that too.

"It's why I'm going to be a doctor," she said. "Not like you, but like him. You both spend your lives helping people, but in very different ways. There needs to be someone who looks back, who stays. And that's me."

She was right. The Doctor could feel himself doing exactly that even as she was talking; he was thinking about where to go next, whether Selbi would want to see somewhere else before he took her home.

"And what about the rest of you?" he asked, bumping shoulders with her.

"Callum and Myanna and Leo and Tia? Who are they?"

Finally, she smiled.

"You know the answer to that. They're... wonderful, and annoying and brilliant and I miss them when I'm away, but they drive me crazy. Family, you know."

The Doctor chose to ignore that last bit.

"None of them wanting to become doctors too?"

"Well, Callum's still set on being like River. I think she's been secretly taking him off on adventures when no-one's looking. Leo likes to build things, but he doesn't like school much. Tia's too young to know yet, she's only nine. She just like dancing, and animals and comic books."

"And Myanna?" he prompted.

Selbi smiled and sighed at the same time.

"She's okay. Doing really well with her swimming. They keep saying she could compete at a much higher level if she wanted to, but she doesn't. She's been spending a lot of time with the team's physio, and I reckon that's what she'll end up doing. Callum thinks Myanna just fancies him, but I can tell she's interested in his brain, not what's in his pants."

"Couldn't it be both?"

Selbi gave him a look.

"Myanna doesn't like boys."

"Oh. Well, that's almost another doctor in the family, isn't it?"

"Mmm."

They looked down at the planet again.

"Do you want to take another look?" The Doctor asked. "Or we could fit in another quick trip before -"

Selbi got up, decisive.

"No, I'm good. Thank you, Doctor, but I'd rather go home now."

* * *

Back in the garden, Amy and Rory were sitting waiting for her, seemingly not surprised at all when, on coming out of the TARDIS, Selbi came straight over to hug them.

The Doctor waited in the doorway, watching them.

Selbi was calmer now; he hoped she'd understood why he couldn't change the past, that this trip had helped her deal with it better, that she would face her future a little less burdened. Her talk of how she and her siblings attended therapy had made him question his bringing them to Earth, this time period. He'd chosen to give them a stable home with people he trusted, over staying with their own people, and maybe that hadn't been right?

"See, I made it by midnight!" he called, waving. "Until next time, then?"

"Doctor, wait."

Selbi ran back to him.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry."

He ruffled her hair again.

"Don't be."

"I don't just mean for what happened today. I mean everything. Thank you for saving me. And my brothers and sisters."

He smiled, a little startled she'd known exactly what he was thinking.

"Hey, we try, yeah? And if you need anything, call me."

"Will you take the others on a trip too?"

"If they want to. Although if River's already getting your brother into trouble, I might not have to."

Selbi threw her arms around him again, hugging him tightly.

"See you next time, then."


End file.
